I have mixed feelings overall, and did enjoy a good part of it, but I think that my largest, particularly niche dissapointment in season 3 is the lack of attention paid to the historical context.
Season 1 did such a detailed and thoughtful exploration of how the realities of being a black man in early 20th century New Orleans shaped Louis as a character, both prior to and after he became a vampire. How those realities still shape his sense of self in present day Dubai. The realities of interacting with white America. How suddenly gaining immense personal power does not change how he was still subject to systemic, structural racism. The realities of sex work. So many details of the time and place woven into the episodes; we saw how the lives of the characters were impacted in small ways by WW1, got an explanation of why the Depression wasn't addressed, had a really NOTABLE scene be set to the soundtrack of FDR's Pearl Harbor speech (if I'm recalling correctly). It wasn't always a focus but it was THERE, and satisfying for viewers paying attention who care about such things.
Season 2 had the same, albeit perhaps more subtly. So many NICE tidbits about the realities of Europe in the immediate post WW2 era. I LOVED that scene in S2E1 where the British journalist assumes that Louis is either a deserter or a communist sympathizer looking to defect, trying to warn him away from the realities of Uncle Joe's utopia, the way that did speak to the disconnect between western leftists/communists in the 30's and 40's not understanding or wanting to understand the realities of Stalinism in the USSR; the hints at the brutality that the Red Army inflicted in Eastern Europe upon liberation from Nazis occupation, the way that at least in some countries, those most likely to lead a resistance were deliberately eliminated while still in the 'fog of war' phase of things (reference to the priest being dragged). Those lines may have meant little to viewers uninterested but they added such rich sense of YES, THE PERSON TELLING THIS WAS THERE and food for thought for history nerd inclined viewers. Also Madeleine's whole backstory, Louis references to the art scene of the era, the cameo by Sartre. Just lovely.
And with Season 3 I was so intruiged, because by aging Lestat up in the show, they basically created a timeline where is ARRIVES in Paris in 1790 and is turned in late 1794. This country bumpkin who has never left Auvergne until age 30, who grew up in a degenerate, abusive ARISTOCRATIC household, arrives in Paris RIGHT AT THE START OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. And we get a single reference to Nicky mentioning paying bribes to avoid being drafted into the National Guard (under Lafayette, in 1790!), and a mention later of them squatting in an abandoned nobleman's house and that's IT. (Well, we do also have Marie Antoinette represented as cake at the Akasha entertaining dinner where he calls her Madam Deficit too, I guess... ) Lestat, a nobleman (and not nearly as impoverished as in the books), arrives in Paris, his first time out of the countryside, and stays there for four years as a human, while the king is deposed and then executed, while the church that shaped him at the monastery is stripped of its political power, suppressed. (The revolution that sought to close monasteries and ban religious dress and brand religion in general as counter-revolutionary, but sure, a man in Paris in the middle of that wouldn't be impacted in any way as far as his own views towards religion...)
HE WAS IN PARIS DURING THE HEIGHT OF ROBESPIERRE AND THE REIGN OF TERROR. AS A MAN SECRETLY FROM A NOBLE FAMILY WHO TREATED THEIR PEASANTS TERRIBLY. He was there. As a human. Vulnerable. In a position to be sympathetic or wary of either side. And. As far as this season shows us - this meant nothing to him. This had no impact on him. This isn't worth even a few lines of dialogue either in the flashbacks or in the voiceover. This did not impact the development of his psychology at all. The ape of Auvergne arrives in Paris and immediately encounters all of that. Four years spent in the midst of all that and - nothing. No impact. No mention. It could have been literally any other period of time in French history that he was in Paris and the details we were given would have worked the same, just change the name of the military service being avoided. This from the show that gave us all the details of storyville, the line about uncle joe's utopia. I'm just. Personally QUITE bummed.
